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The upcoming bout between Nick Diaz and Jay Hieron on the main portion of the “Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg” event scheduled for August 15 is currently in extreme turmoil.
FiveOuncesOfPain.com recently had the opportunity to get the latest details on this unfolding story from California State Athletic Commission Assistant Executive Officer Bill Douglas. According to him this bout is not currently beyond saving, but it’s getting closer and closer to that point with every passing minute of the day.

An early promo clip has been released for September's Sengoku X, and aside from World Victory Road continuing to push their Olympic judokas, it's got a few interesting faces who I hadn't yet seen mentioned as participating. They include new Lightweight King of Pancrase Maximo Blanco (3-2-1, 1 NC), former "Super High School Student" and FWGP participant Tetsuya Yamada (3-1) and Wanderlei clone Fabio Silva (11-5). Of course, Satoshi Ishii is also featured in the video, but I don't think we'll see him fighting before New Year's, if then.
Thanks to Nightmare of Battle for the tip; head over there to check out the Sengoku Gold Cup South Korean qualifiers, as well as the "dark match" finals of the true Gold Cup from last week's Sengoku IX.

MMA fans might be the harshest and most fickle in the sporting world. There is no better demonstration of the "what have you done for me lately mentality" than the way we have collectively turned on former favorite Forrest Griffin. For an example see the photo shop on the right which has been making the rounds in the BE comments, on the UG and the Sherdog boards

The next step up for Bobby Lashley likely won't be the big step his management was promising. Reports are the 4-0 Lashley will next face fellow one-time wrestler Ron Waterman, who spent some time in the WWF/E developmental system while also compiling a 16-6-2 MMA record. The fight is scheduled for October 3.

One look at former WEC bantamweight champ Miguel Torres' (37-2 MMA, 5-1 WEC) face was all it took to understand his feelings.
Seated in an unfamiliar position on the losers' side of the table at Sunday's "WEC 42: Torres vs. Bowles press conference, Torres blankly stared at the gathered media, most of whom appeared as shocked as the former champ that Brian Bowles (8-0 MMA, 5-0 WEC) had defeated – nay, destroyed – the seemingly unbeatable Indiana native.
"In this sport, one shot can change everything," Torres said. "There's no excuses for what happened."

With just five days remaining until Strikeforce conducts four championship bouts live on Showtime, the California-based organization has finally released the evening's full schedule for "Carano vs. Cyborg."
Strikeforce today announced the matchups, including a previously rumored heavyweight contest between Mike Kyle (12-6-1) and Fabricio Werdum (11-4-1).
"Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg" takes place Aug. 15 at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. The main card airs on Showtime.

Anderson Silva wasn't lying when he stated that he's years ahead of the competition. At UFC 101 on Saturday, he showed the world exactly why he's one of the most feared strikers in the sport by dismantling former UFC Light Heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin in 3 minutes and 23 seconds. It looked to be a walk in the park for the UFC Middleweight champion.
It was fairly evident in the week leading up to this tilt that Forrest Griffin was being highly over-valued as a legitimate challenger to Silva. While a lot of fans agreed that Griffin's size could be a legitimate problem, it almost works to every challenger's disadvantage in the light heavyweight division. Speed is what kills competition in MMA, and the same case is made in boxing as well. Unfortunately, Griffin didn't have the game plan to stifle that speed.

According to MMAJunkie, Don Frye has been replaced as headliner for M-1 Breakthrough:
"M-1 Breakthrough" will now feature a main event between previously scheduled headliner "King" Mo Lawal and replacement fighter Mark Kerr.
King Mo (4-0) was originally scheduled to face Don Frye at the main event of M-1 "Breakthrough" but an injury forced him to pull out. Frye will be replaced by 40-year-old, PRIDE and UFC veteran, Mark Kerr (15-10).

Reports surfaced on Sunday that Griffin had suffered a jaw injury and that was the reason for his hasty exit, but MMAWeekly.com was able to confirm with representatives from Zinkin Entertainment, Griffin's management group, that he is physically fine following the Saturday night fight.
Griffin suffered no broken jaw and he is physically okay, said the Zinkin representative, but emotionally he is definitely not dealing well with the loss.

M-1 Global's Aug. 28 event, "Breakthrough," has suffered another setback as Don Frye has backed out of the evening's main event.
Frye's opponent, Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal, released the information in a recent video blog posted on YouTube.
"Don Frye, I guess, pulled out because he didn't like the location of the fight," Lawal says in the video. "It was originally supposed to be in Los Angeles, but I guess they moved it to Kansas City or something. I'm trying to still get that payday, so they're going to find a replacement to take his spot."
Sources close to the event have since confirmed Frye's withdrawal from the card with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com), as well as the relocation of the event to Kansas City.
SI.com first broke the news that "M-1 Breakthrough" would not be happening in Los Angeles in conjunction with IMMAE, an international MMA trade show. Much was made of M-1 Global's lack of a promoter's license in California, but sources close to the event point to a financial backer withdrawing its commitment as the real culprit.
While M-1 Global has yet to make an official announcement regarding a venue in Kansas City, the organization would most likely look to Memorial Hall, the same venue that hosted a June event from the company's "M-1 Challenge" team-vs.-team event series.
Sources close to the event said a replacement for Frye is likely to be announced as soon as Monday, and the show – which will be broadcast on HDNet – will go on despite the changes.

And now, your Strikeforce Bad Break Of The Day...Nick Diaz was supposed to take a drug test ahead of his 8/15 Strikeforce fight with Jay Hieron last night and trainer Cesar Gracie said he'd be there for it. He wasn't. Diaz reps claimed he was training but promised he'd take a test Monday. The problem is that the CSAC believes the test would have had to be taken last night to get the results back in time, and while they agreed to the Monday test, they feel that there is a good chance that the results of the test will not be back in time to clear Diaz for the show. If that's the case the fight is probably off.

“His intensity seemed forced, and he seemed a little small. I am ready to go five five-minute rounds, and we will see tomorrow night if he is ready too. I sacrificed a lot more than B.J. B.J. may have done a lot to get ready for this fight, but I doubt he did more than me. I have dotted all my I’s and crossed all my T’s, I am ready to go.” - Kenflo
I thought Kenny looked smaller than BJ, but what do I know...
EDIT: Sorry if this belongs with the news and not here...

Ed Herman might've picked a bad time to step out of his UFN 19 fight for a UFC 102 fight. After James Irvin went down with an injury and was forced off UFC 102, Herman stepped up to be the replacement and face Wilson Gouveia. Now Gouveia is off due to a back injury. No word on if there will be a replacement for Gouveia.